‘Star Wars’ Edits: Mark Hamill Says He Begged George Lucas To Remove Dialogue From ‘A New Hope’
Some Star Wars edits were made early on, thanks to Mark Hamill. If you thought the dialogue was awkward in the prequel trilogy, George Lucas almost made a similar mistake in A New Hope. Thankfully Hamill talked him out of it.
One not so well-known fact is that Lucas only directed four of the films set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The original film which started it all didn’t do well until after word of mouth got around and turned a potential box office flop into a beloved franchise. This film also nearly turned Luke Skywalker into a version of Yoda, who barely served as more than an exposition character explaining the Force and its implications. Of course, you can’t expect much action from a puppet, a factor which the prequels almost hilariously tried to “fix” by making Yoda fight Count Dooku.
This was likely the most embarrassing scene Christopher Lee filmed before his death in 2015.
Mark had a line in A New Hope which could have sounded completely out of place, and he begged George Lucas to take it out. It was the scene before Han Solo (Harrison Ford) revealed himself to be more of a hero than he let on. He told Luke, “Look kid, I’ve done my part of the bargain. When I get to an asteroid you, the old man, and the droids get dropped off.”
Luke’s comeback line was philosophical and completely out of place, says Games Radar.
“But we can’t turn back, fear is their greatest defense, I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust and what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault”
You can hear Mark say the line in a 1977 interview with Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, and he nearly ran out of breath saying it. He followed it up by asking George, “Who talks like this?” Hamill added that it wasn’t really fair, and fans would be throwing tomatoes at him, and not George.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mdFWVe9fWw&feature=youtu.be
Hearing a line like that from a farm boy who has never seen military action in his life would have been like hearing Shakespeare being quoted casually at an NFL party barbecue. It may have led to other dialogue cuts as well since George has been known for writing some bad dialogue. The Attack of the Clones line about sand was equally awkward and added almost a narrative tone to what was intended to be Anakin (Hayden Christensen) flirting with Padme (Natalie Portman).
Obviously, the directors of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and even the Indiana Jones series made similar cuts before putting them on camera. They were all written at least partially by Lucas.
We all know by now that Lucas had also intended for Jabba the Hutt to appear in a scene with Han Solo, which was eventually added in the Blu-Ray release of the original trilogy. There was also a panning shot of Luke, Obi-Wan, and R2-D2 which was treated to a bunch more alien wildlife in the infamous Star Wars edit.
Thankfully, Lucas gave in to what Mark Hamill wanted and left out the line where a farm boy suddenly sounds like Sun Tzu, even in the Blu-Ray release.
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